The Lord Prayed For Us (Part 2)
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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.
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. He wants to shake you up and make you doubt God, because anything that is not of faith is? ANS: sin. And the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. And Satan will use any means necessary to strip you of your faith, to discourage you, to get you to sin against God. 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. Because just like Peter, just like Job, Satan desires to shift anyone like wheat that true belong to God.
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. I said last week that 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 to their demonic kingdom.
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.
Because see Peter says something in the next verse:
And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.
But Jesus replies in verse 34:
And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Herein lies the danger of self-confidence. You can’t put your confidence in self, you can’t put confidence in your own strength or ability.
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Peter was putting confidence in his self. Here is the problem with that:
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Peter hadn’t received the Holy Ghost, he hadn’t received the circumcision of the heart, where God cuts away the sinful nature. And you have to realize yes you may be saved, but you still gotta contend with your flesh.
Tell your neighbor “neighbor, don’t you trust yourself….trust God!”
Many people are back-slidding today because they put their trust in the preacher and when the preacher falls they fall. But you can’t put your trust in the preacher….Imma tell you right now….don’t you put your trust in me….TRUST GOD!!!
Peter thought he had it figured out…..and some of you might think you have this thing figured out. He said some words because he was sure of himself that he would never deny the LORD, Peter thought he would die for the LORD, but he was basing it off of his on feelings and serving God ISN’T BASED OFF A FEELING!!! THAT’S OUR WHOLE PROBLEM RIGHT THERE.
Peter was destined to fail, he was going to fall, he was going to deny the LORD, he was going to leave the LORD.
But 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 guess what, the LORD DIED FOR EVERY MISTAKE YOU MADE, HE DIED FOR EVERY MISTAKE YOU WILL MAKE THAT WAS THE MASTER PLAN. YOU OUGHT TO GIVE THE LORD GLORY!!! 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!!! BECAUSE HE HAS A PLAN FOR YOU!!! JUST TELL THREE PEOPLE…DON’T WORRY GOD HAS A PLAN IN PLACE FOR YOU!!!
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!!!”
LET’S CLOSE:
WELL THE BIBLE SAYS:
That Jesus told Peter when thou art converted, when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.
Peter denied the Lord, the bible declares that when Jesus was arrested the Peter hung around to see what would happen to Jesus and three people asked if he was one of Jesus’ followers and he denied it three times even to the point that he cursed and said he didn’t know Jesus. And the rooster crowed and Peter instantly knew he failed the LORD, he realized he turned his back on the LORD, but guess what….it wasn’t over…..Jesus was getting ready to make everything alright because he was getting ready to die for that failure.
We know the story, Jesus went on to die on the cross, his blood was shed for the forgiveness of sin. But Jesus rose again from the dead and appeared unto his disciples. Peter was probably a little in the background….because you know how we get when we do something God isn’t happy with. Peter was standoffish.
The Lord then asks him in John 21:15
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
Jesus asked him three times in which Simon being hurt said “Lord thou knowest all things. You know I love you. Jesus prophesied his fate, he was going to die…..but guess what…..JESUS PRAYED FOR HIM THAT HIS FAITH FAILS NOT.
