Who are the Fab Five? Well, you and four more. I figure that maybe five people will read this second post. Those five are the ones I felt confident enough to invite in to this attempt at blogging. You were chosen because I thought you to be honest, but not cruel; encouraging, but not flattering; a reader because you wanted to, not as an obligation to our relationship; and foremost because I love to ponder God and His Word with hearts like yours. And as fellow travelers, I have pleaded in prayer for you.
Today, my mind is going on and on about these scriptures:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.
Luke 22:32
I love the thought that Satan must ask permission for everything. “Can I?” “May I? He whines.
The metaphor of being sifted like wheat is powerful too. I have felt the shifting and shaking of the enemy, myself.
But I feel so loved with the words of Jesus when He tells Simon that He had prayed for him. Jesus didn’t just pray. He pleaded in prayer for Simon. This was no piddlin’ prayer. In all the recorded prayers of Jesus, none seem like He is pleading. This one was earnest.
What was He praying and pleading for Simon Peter? That his faith not fail.
Here is the question? How often have I pleaded in prayer that a fellow Christian believer wouldn’t fail in their faith? Shouldn’t this be our constant prayer for our friends? We see them struggle. We see them slipping away. A sickness leads to missing church. Missing church leads to missing devotions. Missing devotions leads to a cold spirit. The next time we see them, Satan has sifted them like wheat and we are disappointed in their backslidden condition.
Maybe we have those that we say to ourselves, “they just won’t stay with the stuff”. We know those who are in and out, strong and then weak. They join everything in church for the first two meetings and then their faith fails. We might find it even irritating to pray for them. Why can’t they put on their own armor and take care of business? Plead in prayer for them
Jesus tells Peter just a few verses down (vs.34) that Simon Peter would deny him 3 times before morning. He knew there was going to be some failings. He knew this friend was going to deny even knowing Him. Yet, He pleaded in prayer for him.
Jesus knew His prayers were not in vain.
“So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32
Jesus could have preached, exhorted, threatened, or cold-shouldered Simon Peter to get him to stand strong in those hours after His arrest; but our Lord knew what would have the best outcome. He pleaded in prayer.
So today plead in prayer for that one who satan is asking for. They may never know you cried in prayer for them. They may go from strength to strength because you pleaded in prayer. Plead for their faith . Pray that they not fail. Plead for the one that seems most weak.
One day they may strengthen you.
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