Matthew 26:69-76
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
69 Now Peter was sitting out in
the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of
Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where
another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus
of Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t
know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there
went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives
you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses on
himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the
word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you
will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept
bitterly.
Luke 22:31-34
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for
you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And
when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go
with you to prison and to death.”
34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the
rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
Before the rooster
crows . . . words that would change the life of Peter forever. I thought it was important to put the passage
from Luke in here because of the prayer that Jesus prayed for Peter. He prayed that his faith would not fail and
that when he came to his senses and ran back to the Father that it would
strengthen his brothers. That should be
our prayer for our brothers as well, even ourselves.
There will be times
in this life that we may say and do things that are not pleasing to God. We may drift away, like I have mentioned in
previous posts. We are the ones running from
God, not God running from us. When we
come to our senses and we see the errors of our ways our faith can become
stronger.
We know from the
life of Peter that He did have faith. He
was so strong and brave until he was put to the test. Can you identify with
that? I see this in myself, yet as I
have matured in Christ I see it less and less. For example, when I had my first
miscarriage I was angry with God and didn’t even want to open His word but when
the school that I believed in closed (another sort of miscarriage), and the professional
life as I knew it changed, I went to His word for strength. I have
told Jesus that I want to serve Him and that I want others to see Him through
me and I have to recognize that with that comes trials. So when my life gets turned upside down I
need to assess whether I am seeking Him more or denying that He is even present
in my life. I contend that if we run
away from Him we are being more like the Peter who denied Christ rather than
the Peter that strengthened is brothers.
Which would you rather be like?
Be assured that
satan wants each of us and God will allow him to tempt us just as Jesus was
tempted, Judas was tempted and Peter was tempted. It is our response to that temptation though
that God has left up to each of us. We
need to strengthen each other through prayer for one another, we need to strengthen each other through
fellowship with believers, and we need to strengthen each other through
encouragement, not discouragement towards one another. Every single one of us will mess up in this
life, every single one of us will be tempted at some time in our life. Some of us will run towards God, some of us
will deny Him and then run back to Him. My prayer for each one that reads these
words is that their faith will hold strong and that they will in turn strengthen
other brothers and sisters in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name, Amen.
As you seek Him,
remember to ask Him for strength for the temptations that will come your
way. As you read His Word, He will give
you the answers you need to make your faith stronger than the day before. As you commune with Him, give Him the opportunity
to speak to you just as He spoke to Peter so that you may strengthen others
through your faith in Him.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
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