The Lord Has Prayed For Us.
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And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Topic: The Lord has prayed for us.
There is a couple of things to grab from this text.
Let’s look at number 1:
Jesus said in verse 28:
Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
Let’s consider a couple of translations to understand what Jesus is talking about:
“You are those who have stood by Me in My trials;
And you are those who have remained [throughout] and persevered with Me in My trials;
“You have stayed with me in my time of trial.
Jesus had been through a lot. He had been tested, he had been mocked......I’m talking about before Calvary yall. He had people who were plotting against him, he had people who were talking about him, he had people who did not like him, he had people who was jealous of them. He didn’t have a lot of money, didn’t have a fancy house, didn’t have the best clothes, yet despite of all that Jesus had been through, they stayed with Jesus.
They remained with Him.
They persevered with Him.
They stood by his side.
Again, this is pre-calvary.
And Jesus then says “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
You know what caused them to receive this kingdom, Jesus said “I appoint you” noticed he didn’t say “I’m going to appoint you if you do this” because a lot of times in the church we tend to put stipulations on things. But Jesus doesn’t put a stipulation on receiving a kingdom. Jesus said, I’m granting it, I appoint unto you (now) a kingdom. Why?
Because you remained with me.
Because you’ve stood by my side.
Because you have persevered.
And I believe that everyone that remains with the Lord, everyone that stands by his side through trials and temptation, every one that hangs in there even when the road gets rough and the hills are hard to climb....he’s going to grant us a kingdom too!!!
No we may not have thrones to rule from, but just to be in the kingdom will be a blessing, just to see Jesus face to face and to see Him in peace will be a blessing!
There is a reason why they stood by Jesus. It is because of their faith in Him. Their faith-walk with Jesus at this point in their relationship had been up and down. One minute they believed him, another minute a storm would come and they doubt Jesus. One minute they trusted him and then the next minute they didn’t know how they were going to fed 5,000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread.
And if most of us would be real and honest in here.....we’ve experienced the same thing the disciples experienced because we are disciples ourselves. I’m not talking to the strong disciples that got big faith. I’m talking to the ones who are in a struggle right now. The strong ones, you’re good you don’t need no one to encourage you. But for the ones who the devil is after, for the ones who are going through trials and tests, for the ones who seem to be on the brink of giving up.....and some of yall are quiet because you want to keep that strong facade and you want people to believe you got faith enough to walk on the water.
But every now and then life hits us and yes we may walk on the water one minute, but when the winds and the waves of life start to blow, for a moment we take our eyes off Jesus and we start to sink, and we almost give up, we almost die. But the Lord told Paul “my grace is sufficient for thee: for m¥ strength is made perfect in weakness.” My power works best, not when you are strong, not when you can hold together, not when you’re putting on a facade, but when you are weak.....that’s when I can step in. When you can’t take it anymore.....I’ll step in and give you more strength. When you are bearing your cross and you don’t have the strength to carry the cross.....I’ll help you carry the heavy load.
Anybody that need help just lift your hands and pray this simple prayer “Lord I need your help!”
I want you to hear the word of the LORD this morning.....help is coming....just hang in there a little while longer. I know I said that week before last, but someone prayed this week “Lord when?” And the Lord said “soon”. Help is coming, you ought to encourage your neighbor and tell them help is on the way.
Imma give you a minute to praise the LORD because your help is on the way.
If you stick with Jesus.....don’t think he won’t bless you.....if you serve the LORD don’t think that serving the Lord won’t pay off after awhile.
I’m short this morning....sorry yall.
I’m coming around the bend.
Jesus then looks at Peter (verse 31) and says “Simon, Simon” he says his name twice because he loves Simon. Says his name twice out of love and concern for what Simon was getting ready to endure. The Lord tells Simon that “Satan has desired to have you”. Let me stop there.....everyone in here that calls themselves a child of God. Satan wants you. He wants you to be in his kingdom. He wants you to fail and to fall just like he fell. He wants to separate you that’s what the word “sift” means......he wants to separate your faith in God, he wants to server that relationship you have with God. And he will use any means necessary to do it. He will touch your body, he will tempt you with things that you’ve been delivered from, he will attack you through your weakness and sometimes your weakness may not be a particular sin.
Some of us our weakness is money, it can be your job, it can be your love for your family that Satan will cause you to fall.....you better hear me this morning. He wants to sift you like wheat, shake you up, split you from your faith in God, split you from your relationship with God, split you from your health, split you from your family, split your finances. He just wants you to fail and to fail miserably.
And for those of you who are bound....he wants you to stay bound. He doesn’t care if you come to church.....he just don’t want you to get loosed while you’re in church. He wants you to come to church here the word but don’t do the word. He wants you to come to church and let the word bounce off of you and if it does start to penetrate he’ll send a distraction your way to pluck it out of your heart, because if it gets in your heart, your mind and grows, he knows you will become a threat to his kingdom because he is trying to pull down as many as he can before it all comes to an end.
Jesus tells Simon, Satan wants you....the Bible doesn’t say this....but I believe the devil sees the potential in all of us. You know why....let’s make this fact known. Satan is NOT omnipresent like God. He can’t be everywhere at the same time like God. That’s why he sends demons and principalities to do his work and they report back to him. Just like there are angels assigned to you, Satan has powers that are assigned to you to disrupt your walk with God and these spirits watch us and make reports and plans to bring us down.
Satan saw that Peter was a threat, he saw the potential in Peter, and that’s why Satan is attacking some of you.....that’s why these evil spirits don’t want to let go of you because if you get free.....you’re going to be a problem.
But Jesus told Peter “I have prayed for thee”
See what Peter didn’t realize, what he couldn’t see was that the Lord saw what he was going to do before he even did it. And what Peter didn’t understand was that the LORD had a plan! Encourage your neighbor and tell your neighbor the LORD has a plan in place for you!
Can I preach the gospel this morning?
The plan was that Jesus was going to die for every failure in Peter’s life, he was going to die for every mistake that he would make. And the Lord knew what was going to happen to Peter because guess what.....SATAN can’t do nothing without the LORD’s permission!!! He has to ask before he can touch you, he has to ask before he can do anything, and you best believe that if it is granted......it may happen but God is going to set you up to be victorious!!!
I just stopped by this morning to let someone know, that the LORD knows the path that you are on. You better take this word and tuck it away and encourage yourself latter on when the trial hits you. When you feel like giving up, when family problems, job problems, financial problems, health problems rock your house!
The Lord knows the bumps ahead, he knows the disappointments that are coming.....this is a prophetic word this morning. He knows the mistakes you will make and the failures that lies ahead.....but the good news.....the gospel declares “JESUS HAS PRAYED FOR US!!!”
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
HERE IT COMES RIGHT HERE:
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
The Lord prayed for you that you’d be kept.
The Lord prayed that we’d be one with Him and the Father as he is one with the Father.
The Lord prayed that we’d all be one.....and that’s why the devil has some of us fighting and thinking ill against one another. Because if the church every comes together it would spell trouble. Why do you think there are so many different strange doctrines, why do you think everyone is a prophet today, why do you think the world hates the church so much, there are so many erroneous theories out there to divide the church and to come against your faith.
When you have the Word.....not just the word of God, but Jesus is the Word made flesh. The world will hate you. Even your family members who aren’t saved will hate you. Even those false Christians who proclaim to be christians will hate you.
Satan and all of his demon buddies can’t stand your guts.
But guess what....IT DON’T MATTER BECAUSE JESUS PRAYED FOR ME! IT’S ALREADY OVER BECAUSE JESUS PRAYED FOR ME!!!!
The devil wants you to go to the Lake of Fire......BUT IT’S TOO LATE BECAUSE JESUS PRAYED THAT WHERE HE IS, HE WANTS US TO BE WITH HIM!!!! JUST TELL THREE PEOPLE.....SAY “IT’S OVER BECAUSE THE LORD PRAYED FOR ME!!!”
It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you made, it doesn’t matter what you done in your past, Jesus died for it and before He died he prayed for you! AND IF JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU....YOU NEED TO KNOW AND BELIEVE THAT IT’S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT!!!! JUST SHAKE YOUR NEIGHBORS HAND AND TELL THEM IT’S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT......JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU AND JESUS DIED FOR YOU.....AND HE DID IT TO GIVE YOU VICTORY.....HE DID IT.....TO REDEEM YOU......HE DID IT TO SAVE YOU.....HE DID IT BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.