Until Everything Within Me Brings Honor to Your Name
“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)
The purpose of sifting wheat is not to destroy it but remove the chaff. It takes out the dust, husks, and impurities, leaving what is precious and valued. To be sifted like wheat is uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but effective in removing impurities.
Here, Jesus did not pray that Peter and the other disciples would be spared the sifting. Rather, he pleaded that their faith would not fail in the midst of it. The Kingdom we partake of with Jesus, is one of faith. Faith is an absolute requirement. We come to receive the Lord by faith, our walk is one of faith, and obedience and faith are how we live it out and please God.
As Hebrews 11:6 says, “No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.”
When Jesus was crucified and treated as a rebel, everything would shift and Peter and the other disciples would be sifted. Perhaps they still held in their hearts some belief that they would rule this earth with Jesus and still put thought into who might be greater than the others. We live in the reality of what is. Just like walking into eternity, it is hard to fathom what might be, especially when it is so drastically different.
Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7, “But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
Just like today as people speak of a baptism of the Holy Spirit, I am sure it was hard for the disciples to fathom what was coming in the Advocate and how He would change their lives by living in them and filling them with His counsel, conviction and giving them strength and wisdom.
Their lives would be so different with the Holy Spirit; yet, how could they fathom this? Instead of just wishing they would have the strength to stand in difficulty, go to prison with Him or even die with Him, they would actually have the strength to walk this out. They would be empowered with power after Jesus left, but they would have to receive this by faith as well.
The disciples did not lose their faith and turn from the Lord but they were greatly shaken by the crucifixion of Jesus. One moment He is healing people, performing miracles and multitudes of people are shouting that He is their king as they laid their garment down for this small donkey colt He rode on down to the temple. Then the disciples, just a day later, watched as these same people shout, “crucify Him!”
These disciples had put everything into this basket and left all to walk with Jesus and now He was gone. This was so unsettling for them that, not knowing what to do now, they went back to fishing after a time of hiding. It was what they knew before Jesus. Yet, Jesus did not leave their hearts. They had not lost their faith through the shifting to sifting circumstances.
So what does it look like not to lose faith? Somewhere, in the midst of all the trouble, they did not lose their hope. They trusted, while they did not understand, that Jesus was who He said He was and that He was still for them and capable of saving them.
One author, Marshawn Evans Daniels, of Believing Bigger, writes that “The Lord makes a way out of no way. He’s already planned a pathway through the valley of impossibility.” She goes on to write, “Unfavorable life circumstances often invite God’s unbeatable favor.”
It was the love for Jesus that kept the disciples closely knit to His heart, even when they just couldn’t understand and were confused. They knew deep down in their heart that Jesus was capable and would make a way through for them. While pressed and discouraged, they did not give up and turn away.
As Jesus was preparing for his crucifixion and leaving the earth, He asked His closest disciples to pray that they did not fall into temptation. What would be the temptation? To run away probably; to hide; to escape; to deny Jesus; to hate and cut of the ear of their attacker. When situations shift and you are being sifted, what are the temptations that catch you when you are off guard?
For me, two temptations are my biggest struggle. The first one is eating. I struggle with wanting to comfort myself with food. Not like it changes my circumstances, but it distracts me for a short period of time. But eating in stress also makes me feel lethargic and distant from God’s voice. It becomes harder to hear Him.
The other struggle for me at times is venting. I want to speak from my worry and concern my fears and my doubts. In both cases of eating and speaking out from my stress, worry and concern, I am agreeing with lies as I do this. I speak forth and agreement with lies that has power to bring forth things in my life that I do not want in my life. In Sirach, we are reminded that our tongue, like a little rudder, is the first thing that can take us in the wrong direction.
Sirach 27:4-7 advises that one’s speech reveals a person and the fruit they bare in their lives. It says, “Your talk shows your faults; it is like a sieve that separates out the rubbish. The way you think shows your character just as surely as a kiln shows any flaws in the pottery being fired. You can tell how well a tree has been cared for by the fruit it bears, and you can tell a person’s feelings by the way e expresses himself. Never praise anyone before you hear him talk; that is the real test.”
It is not what goes into our mouths, but what comes out of it that causes our harm. In a prayer for help against sin, Sirach 22:27-23:1 says, “I wish that a guard could be placed on my mouth, that my lips could be wisely sealed. It would keep me from making mistakes and prevent me from destroying myself with my own tongue! O Lord, my Father and Master of my life, do not leave me at the mercy of my own words; don’t let them cause my downfall.”
When Jesus was being crucified, Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. He confessed with his mouth that Jesus was not his savior. While he did this out of fear and still held to some faith, his confessions had impact. As the rooster crowed and he realized it, he was quick to repent and weep bitterly over this sin.
Later, when Jesus was with Peter on the shore, He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” As Peter answered, Jesus knows all things so Peter knew Jesus knew this. Yet, Jesus asked him this three times… the same amount of times he denied Jesus. Jesus had him confess out loud his love. Peter was being delivered from the lies with the truth as he spoke it forth.
Just as we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord when we come to know Him, what we confess matters. This is why praising the Lord in the midst of difficulty like Paul and Silas when they were in jail is so powerful. Our words and confessions are changing our atmosphere as well as our hearts and belief. When Paul and Silas praised the Lord, they strengthened their faith rather than cause their defeat by wallowing in their circumstances.
Joel Osteen, in his book, Rule Your Day, notes that if we do our part and control our thoughts and words, ruling our atmosphere and attitudes, then God will meet us there. Our faith will be strengthened rather than weakened and we will find ourselves in the will of God, in agreement with God rather than off course and running away from His will. Joel writes, “He’ll make things happen that you couldn’t make happen.”
We have power in how we respond. We also have power in our attitudes and thoughts. We correct the lies and replace them with the truth. We can build faith by our agreement with God or cause our own demise by agreeing with the enemy and acting out of fear rather than in agreement with faith.
In 1 Kings 11:38, the Lord promises Jeroboam, “But as for you, I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Israel. If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.”
What an incredible promise. And to start with, Jeroboam agreed with this word. He followed it in faith. It required him to leave Egypt where he felt safe and come back in open obedience. He did not force himself as leader but came to Rehoboam with the people of Israel, waiting for when God would do this for him. Then suddenly, in his faithfulness of following the Lord and trusting Him, he was lifted up as leader over the ten tribes of Israel just as the word had promised.
Here is where things went awry for him. Once he got into position, he stopped trusting and agreeing with God. He moved into the position by faith, but then he let his own thinking and confessions derail him. He started to confess and agree with fears. When he moved into self-protection, it took him completely off course.
In 1 Kings 12:26-28, “Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.’ After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, ‘Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
Another thing it brings up here in these verses as well as with Rehoboam is, who are your advisors? Clearly, we can see by both of these that their advisors mattered. David had Nathan, a prophet, for an advisor. He chose people who were only seeking the will of God from a place of trust. They had the Lord’s wisdom. He also chose people who would challenge his thinking when he was off course. We need to make sure we choose wisely who we allow to speak into our lives.
For me, I have my husband and two close friends who speak into my life. They remind me of those things that are most important. They believe in me. When I am weak and struggling, they speak life and encouragement into me. And my two friends pray for me and help me to get back on the path of trust in running the race towards God. They speak faith, hope and expectation rather than fear. I am so grateful for all of them.
One last thought when it comes to taking advice is using care not to follow someone’s advice just because they have a title or have advice to give. People are proven advisors over time. Just because someone claims to have authority or expertise, we do not want to open ourselves up for them to speak in our lives until we know them and they have proven to have our best interests at heart. What they speak to us will agree with God in our lives. If their advice causes confusion and doubt rather than trust and faith, we want to avoid taking their advice.
We see this with the man on the donkey who was clearly told by God that he was not supposed to eat or drink after giving the word God gave him about the altar to Jeroboam and to go on another path on the way home. An old prophet heard about it and ran out to meet him, telling him that, being a prophet himself, and angel told him to come bring this man back to his home to eat and drink, but was lying (1 Kings 13:18-19). The result is that the man on the donkey died.
Lord, help us to see where we are confessing lies and going in the wrong direction. Help us to agree with you in all things and speak words of faith as wee follow you forward into the incredible future you have for each one of us. Deliver us from evil and keep us from falling into temptation. Let everything within us bring honor to Your name.
1. Osteen, Joel. Rule Your Day. 6 Keys to Maximizing Your Success and Accelerating Your Dreams. Faith Words, New York, NY. 2022.
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