Bible Studies

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Luke 22:
31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Jesus said to Simon Peter that Satan had “desired” that he have Peter and be allowed to “sift” him. We don’t precisely know how he would have sifted Peter but you can be sure it would have been very ugly. An interesting point though is that Jesus knew this. Now don’t tell me it’s because Jesus was God and knew all things as God does. Before Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the Father he did not have “access” to all data and information. Remember He once said “who touched me” about the woman who had an “issue of blood” and wanted to “touch” Jesus. He also said himself that only the Father knows the exact moment of his second coming. Oh, you mean they keep secrets from each other up there? Let’s not go there. We don’t know for certain” if Jesus was told this information from His Father alone, or was privy to the application Satan made for Peter, or if Jesus simply “read the devil’s mind”, who really knows. It doesn’t matter friend. All that matters is that Jesus knew and was willing to let Peter in on the devil’s desires. Wow.


Jesus said to Peter “but I have prayed for you”. Whoa. Jesus told Peter, possibly right in front of the others, we don’t know, that He the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord, the Word made Flesh, had Prayed for Peter, in response to the devils desires and likely application. Why didn’t Jesus just “ask the Father to rebuke and bind and silence the devil, like many of us would have? We can’t say for absolutely sure because we “weren’t there”, but it would appear that Jesus prayed what he did as a direct result of the Father’s direction as to how to pray for Peter, even for a far better purpose. Even one that would so help Peter become way more than he thought he ever could be but even able to turn around, as Jesus did, and “strengthen his Brethren”. And maybe when Peter ended up doing this, as he most certainly did do one day, the Father through the same Spirit may have directed him to pray the same thing. No, No, it doesn’t necessarily mean that because of the way the Father directed Jesus to pray and the obvious wisdom in it for Peter’s future that this is “how” we should approach situations similar to what Peter was in. God isn’t interested in “methodology” or technique or “formulas” as we certainly are. He directs how a thing should be prayed for or prepared for based primarily on what He plans and intends to do with the object of the prayer and direction. This isn’t just to keep the devil somehow “off guard” and never figuring God out. I’ll bet ya that the Lord loses no sleep wondering if the devil is getting close to figuring him out. The devil, formerly known as the Arch-Angel Lucifer knows God way better than we have so far, yet in vain now. He also has “read the book” and heard all of us reading it to him over and over.

And we’re sure this wasn’t the only time he prayed for Peter. The Bible even says he is in Heaven interceding for you and me every day. Wow. And Jesus didn’t pray for Peter to be rescued “from” the “sifting of Satan” but he prayed that “through it all” Peter’s faith would not fail. And Jesus said that when Peter was converted……..[you mean he wasn’t yet? You mean Jesus appointed him and anointed him already as an Apostle before he was even “converted”]? Wow. Were the other Apostles and even Disciples also not yet “converted” at that point? Don’t know for sure.

This also is a great example of the fact that a Christian can miss Heaven before he get’s there if something terrible goes wrong. Not just simply the story of Judas Iscariot who also was an Apostle and was anointed and went out with the other Apostles on a Ministry trip and was casting out devils, healing the sick, etc. [ and there are other examples ] but if Peter’s faith had failed as Jesus said he prayed it would not, I wonder what would have happened to Peter. Thank God above the Father’s will was realized in the prayer of faith of Jesus. But the Bible says “it is God’s will [ and desire, and intent ] that no one would be lost but that all would come to repentance” But we know from the Bible that there will be a great many who “will not have Jesus to rule over them”. How sad for the Lord and the Father and the Precious Holy Spirit.

Obviously here we clearly have a “part to play” and because of that a clear responsibility. Not to help God save us, or help save ourselves, as Jesus alone did. But to be a “part” of the answers to the prayers of God in Jesus to let God have his way with us instead of letting the devil has his way. And because this is the case then there certainly is a “way” we could be lost forever before we ever get to Heaven or the end of our lives. Wow.

Before you were “converted” did the devil try to sift you as he wanted to with Peter? He doesn’t bother with that with those who have not responded to the call to “leave all and follow Jesus, as did Peter and his friends. He only desires to sift those who have. And assuming you have been “converted” since then, have you been involved in “strengthening the Brethren”?

Did Peter end up having his faith “fail” as Jesus talked about in His prayer after Peter denied knowing Jesus after the Lords arrest? I don’t think so.

Keep in mind here that when either Jesus prays for someone himself or by his Spirit directs someone to pray for another, and does so in such a way as we may think is wrong or insufficient, along with Jesus directed prayers come all the “forces” of Heaven and the Godhead behind those prayers. It’s a Win-Win situation. You can’t lose. No reason to be worried about the actual words or nature of the prayer. Nor the outcome. Just like when Jesus was told about Lazarus being “sick unto death” He didn’t sweat it because “He knew”……….

Exactly how Peter ended up “strengthening the Brethren” we can only know from what we do have recorded in the Holy Scriptures about Peter’s life after Jesus Death and Resurrection. And there is a lot there to read about. But no doubt his “Ministry” to his fellow followers and believers of Jesus went way beyond what we read. In fact, to this day God has honored the memory and Spirit of Christ, as He was in Peter by continuing to bless me and so many others, simply through the few words of a couple of letters God had Peter write to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem and beyond. So Peter ended up becoming a Big Brother like Jesus his Big Brother before him. Wow.

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