“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22:32)
When Peter walked on the water, suddenly doubted and began to sink, the Lord didn’t let him drown. At that moment, the disciple in the picture was preserved through faith only because of God’s mighty work (see 1 Pet. 1:5).
Now Simon Peter had to re-learn (see Luke 5:8) how profoundly corrupt his natural heart was. This bitter recognition of what he was in himself would test his trust to the breaking point. He faced the danger of despair. The enemy was only waiting for the opportunity to shoot his fiery arrows of doubt to destroy the faith of this fisher of men.
But the Lord gave His disciple courage! “But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” He had not come to extinguish faintly burning wicks, but to rekindle them (see Isa. 42:3)! We see the wonderful result of His intercession in Acts 2, when Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, delivered the first Christian message with great boldness before at least 3000 people.
When a believer has sinned, the devil sometimes tries to persuade him that he is not really converted. What can you do when such thoughts arise? We’re to take up the shield of faith and stand firm against the enemy in faith (see Eph. 6:16; 1 Pet. 5:9)—by relying on what God tells us in His eternally true word. It also helps to remember the following: the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10) will never persuade an unbeliever that he has not been converted—for he wants to keep anyone who is not saved from thinking about it! Satan will only cast doubts about salvation on true disciples of Jesus, whom God has chosen in His grace. Paul writes, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?” (see Rom. 8:33–34). But the Apostle doesn’t stop there. He’s completely convinced that neither the present nor the future can separate us from the love of God (see Rom. 8:38–39). This includes our own failures or wrongdoing!
When the Lord Jesus’ time here on earth was drawing to a close, He said to His Father about His disciples, “I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction” (John 17:12). He said this, even though He knew that a short time later everyone would leave Him and Peter would deny Him three times. Would it be any different nowadays?
Why is it so important for Jesus’ disciples to get to know the Lord better on the one hand, and their own hearts on the other? What does it mean to you practically to steadfastly resist Satan in faith? Remember how the Lord Jesus resisted Satan when he assailed him in the desert and later in the Garden of Gethsemane!
Comments (0)
No comments yet.